essentially a sense of innocence

Got caught up on 2 weeks of the OC game friday with jacq, who prepared some homeade french bread pizzas to die for. During the game, we had a surprise visit from Pat who was in town to sync up with an old college friend. After the game, I went along with Pat to meet his buddy, Craig, who brought us to a pretty festive house party populated almost entirely of Naropa students. While there, I met a lot of interesting foreigners, but didn't stay too long after the second keg arrived, as I had not really paced myself earlier in the evening.

Derrick had guests from CT in town (john & chris), so on saturday we took them on the Pearl Street wander (Styr > Rhumba > Trilogy > Bacaro) with dylan, jacq, joaquin, & pat. The weather kept a lot of people inside that night, as none of these places were too crowded, which actually worked to our benefit with finding tables. The snowflakes were the size of silver dollars, which was beautiful to watch but not as fun to walk in.

Had a junk burger (finally) for brunch at the Mountain Sun w/ jacq sunday morning, then watched Gerdern Stert & the Majikat dvd. Then dylan joined us and we all went out for some authentic mexican in North Boulder with derrick, john & chris. phew. Unfortunately, the weekend kind of caught up with me this morning. I'm hoping lunch & a latte will ease my current malaise.

-hydratory exploits, neph-

check in

If you're looking for some brief but clever amusement from Moby (and can tolerate flash), you can check in to his new hotel. Guest services allow you to do all sorts of silly things, read the paper, watch TV, even play Moby in yard tennis. Me & Jacq have a double room on the third floor - 1049 & 1051. Meet us in the bar for drinks!

I had a phone conversation with the curator of my memorial compound yesterday, which is always enjoyable.

-nephew-

gold star

A chill is in the air again, let's hope the snow soon follows, like it did in boston!

In a futile attempt to slow software piracy, Microsoft announced that it will no longer make updates available to people without legit copies of their programs. Read: you will now need to find pirated versions of Microsoft updates.

Art imitates life imitates art or life? The owners of the Inc. record label (formerly Murder Inc.) were arrested yesterday for allegedly laundering drug money for the Supreme Team, a violent NY drug crew. Raise your hand if you wonder how Ashanti is taking the news.

Are you as excited as I am about the upcoming movie adaptation of the old Liquid Telivision short Aeon Flux, starring Charlize Theron? Didn't think so.

Currently listening to: the mountain goats - We Shall All Be Healed

-neph-

silver lining

One of the funniest things was when me & jay convinced Todd Rogison that the new Kiss album was going to be two discs and called Silver Lining. We had him going for like 6 months. It was also pretty hilarious when we called a ton of people and left messages for them to call Todd's number if they wanted a free subscription to Acton Digest. He would come in to school and remark, "All these people keep calling my house to get a copy of some magazine. Our phone numbers must be similar. Any word on when Silver Lining is going to be released?" Priceless.

-called up the ring ring, nephew-

speech

Google has a launched an online beta Video Search which searches close-captioning from broadcast TV networks. Search results will have up to five still images and text excerpts, as well as episode information and air times. I'm not sure exactly how I will wind up using this, but I have a feeling it will come in handy at some point.

Not everyone was pleased with yesterday's Oscar nominations, myself included. Sunshine, Flying Daggers, and Sideways star, Paul Giamati all got shafted. Here are those snubs and some explanation as to why they may have been overlooked. (except Polar Express - gag, could that be any creepier?)

A Cincinnatti company plans to monitor over 3.5 million blogs during & after the superbowl. The company plans to compile feedback on advertising spots and sell their $20,000 report to anyone who may be interested. The most likely customers are, of course, advertising firms. Let's hope that Muscle Beach is included in that 3.5 million. We won't let 'em down.

Trainwreck of the week award: Stockard Channing for driving drunk around a roadblock in California.

-neph for now-

leaky

The 77th Oscar nominees were announced today.

The University of Colorado has the honor of having the most former players in a Super Bowl ever with a total of six - four on New England and two on Philly.

In an ever growing trend, this week's new releases of interest were all leaked sometime last year:

bright eyes - I'm Wide Awake / Digital Ash
M83 - before the dawn heals us
...and you will know us by the trail of dead - World's Apart
chemical bros. - Push The Button
low - The Great Destroyer

The one that stands out is definitely World's Apart. The Bright Eyes could / should have just been one disc. M83 is a bit too much of an aquired taste, although I like this album better than Dead Cities. Push The Button has a couple of good tracks, specifically NOT the ones w/ guest vox, but most of it is dated. The Low disc has that Neil Young-ish vibe to it. There are also two more releases that are out this week that I haven't yet heard, but would like to:

lou barlow - EMOH
superwolf (bonnie prince billy & matt sweeney) - s/t

-neph-

61 & sunny

The buzzing that interfers with the radio has started up again.

It looks like Audrey Tautou is going to play the lead female in the movie adaptation of the DaVinci Code. Too bad she will star opposite Tom Hanks, who has a habit of making movies unbearably annoying.

Boulder tends to make the nation's headlines for all the wrong reasons - CU football scandal, CU student alcohol deaths, riots on the Hill, and now a roman catholic church buried ashes from hundreds of aborted fetuses yesterday, a day after the 32nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion...

Today's new album leaks:
daft punk - Human After All
of montreal - Sunlandic Twins
doves - Some Cities

-nephew-

ball hog

The silent but deadly Patriots are in the Super Bowl again - the 3rd time in four years! Matt & Sonja are undoubtedly excited to get to Jacksonville. We (myself, derrick, dylan, jacquie, michelle, nathan) watched the playoff festivites at Derrick's place where we spent some of the Philly/ATL game playing pool at the club house in front of the widescreen. We had a great spread - several pounds of wings, chips, dips, beers, & burritos.

The snow could have been better, but we enjoyed our day at Copper nonetheless. Jacquie & I made first run and had the mountain to ourselves in the early a.m. while most everyone else was in a traffic jam on I-70. We were almost too early, as we got to Noa Noa's before the bagels arrived and had to settle for croissants & scones. A few hours later, once the snow began to soften, we were excited to meet up with angie, carolyn, robert & his friend steve. After a few more runs and a stop at Jax, me & jacq headed back to boulder with some roadies so we could sync up with dylan and begin preperations for the pomegranite mojito (!) cocktail party at my place. It was a small affair attended additionally by ken, michelle, and nathan. After a mr. toad's wild ride and some espresso shots, courtesy of ken, we wound up once again at Old Chicago's after a brief and boring stint at Bacaro. After we devoured our pizza and a couple of pitchers, we watched SNL, which had two of the funniest skits in a long time - the Bush girls after inauguartion & the Condyliza Lies a Lot hearing/interview. I laughed myself to sleep.

-nephew-

pop the cap

Some states have it pretty bad when it comes to getting the best selection of frothy dank brews. With Georgia recentlty increasing their alcohol cap on beer from 6% to 14%, only five states remain miserable - South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and North Carolina. But, at least the latter is doing something about it. Beer enthusiasts and activists have launched a Pop the Cap initiative to be brought before NC state legislature Jan. 26th.

Note to conservative christians: Sponge Bob Square Pants is merely absorbent, yellow, and porous.

The new Beck album, Guero, is slated for release on March 29. If you're clever, you can find an advance copy today. At a recent event to raise tsunami relief funds, Beck was joined onstage during "Lost Cause" by a red body suit clad Will Ferrel who made himself useful by humping the organ. Go Spartans!

Even though it's been mild all week, the slopes are calling. Full report on monday.

-until then , nephew-

when nobody's looking

Today is Inauguration Day, in honour of the president's second term. Reports indicate that 'Bow ties and boots' gala was quite the fashionable event, that is if you fancy felt, rhinestones, and snakeskin. A new student from Texas told me they were throwing a big party to celebrate the occassion, and that they would have to wait until tomorrow to start their course work. I wished them a 'Happy Inauguration Day' and then fell out of my chair laughing.

I won this morning's "That's a Cover" contest on the Milkman Dan show on 1190. I was correct in identifying that the Black-Eyed Snakes were covering "Lordy" by Low & Dirty Three from the In The Fishtank series. Way to go!

The war of the beer commercials is heating up. Apparently ESPN has refused to air the newest batch of retaliatory ads that Dudweiser has made in response to the Filler adds (the ones where referees call fouls on Dud drinkers). It is alledged that ESPN's parent company, Disney, does not condone the activities the ads portrayed, namely stealing. However, it has been pointed out that ESPN may be doing Dudweiser, a 50% shareholder in the nation's beer industry, a favor because these adverts acknowledge that Filler, an 18% shareholder, may actually pose a threat. Then again, if you want cheep beer, you could just drink Coors. It comes from the Rockies after all, and they have twins.

Studies now show that moderate drinking may ward off dementia in the elderly. Survey says, one drink!

Let's also hold our glasses high for the publishers of Rolling Stone magazine, who refused to run an ad for a new translation of the bible aimed at young people. Thump elsewhere, please.

-head, heart, and sold, neph-

resounding

If you're heading to San Fransisco anytime soon, you may want to visit VinoVenue, a self-dispensing wine tasting bar. Basically, you buy a prepaid card from $10-$100, and the machines will deduct anywhere from $1-$28 per ounce, depending on the varietal & vineyard. The card also keeps track of the wines you tasted just in case you get too toasted.

Newly discovered debauchery dept: the Desperate Housewives Drinking Game & the Alias Drinking Game.

-refined, neph-

tarping & townies

I can't wait for the next blustery day so that we can all try tarping. I think it would be even more fun on a frozen lake.

Angie officially moved to town over the holiday weekend. She seems to be acclimating well to wood paneling.

Things I've been digging today:

les savy fav - Inches
the killers - Hot Fuss
mike doughty - Skittish & Rockity Roll
postal service - we will become silhouettes EP
sam prekop - Who's Your New Professor?

-nephew-

not over yet

The front page of the business section in the Daily Camera yesterday had a picture of dylan grinding spice and numerous quotes from john at Third Street. The article discussed the far reaching impact of the recent tsunami on the coffee, tea & spice trades and local businesses.

As you may be aware, Guided by Voices called it quits after a pair of nye show's in chicago last year. Pitchfork has a summary from someone lucky enough to have gone. Despite the hullabaloo & fanfare surrounding the one-two punch of a farewell & new year'e eve show, I don't feel too bad for missing the jaunt as I have been fortuate enough to see the boys on 4 seperate occasions since 1999.

Kristen Hersh's latest group, 50 Foot Wave may be the recipient of the wrong name at the wrong time award, and not the old Sub Pop band, Tsunami, like I had predicted earlier. I guess they went the way of non-importance long ago.

Are you a hunting buff, but just can't seem to make it into the wilderness as often as you like? Well, a Texas man, John Lockwood, has developed a website that allows you to control a rifle and actually shoot at live animals on his ranch. If you just want target practice, you can shoot at paper targets instead of live ones. You may also request a copy of your target, or get a dvd copy of your session so you can remember your experience and show it off to your grand children. He's currently working on developing a taxadermy service for visitors that want a more substantial souvenir of their mouse-click click.

It looks like the Teen Girl Squad has returned this week with a Soopa Groop. Floor-tommed!

-nephew-

scoop

Friday evening brought on the shallowness of yet another OC game, complete with homeade pizza.

Caught the morning showing of House of Flying Daggers on saturday, and was thoroughly entertained. Two thumbs up. Couched it for the playoffs. That evening myslef, dylan, ken, and the J-crew (jacq, janelle, jen) synched up at Styr for happy hour. Those things are creepers, especially when you're polishing off as many as you can in one hour. From there it was off to Trilogy to support Skye and her band. In the front, Lawrence was spinning the same records poorly that he was the last time we were there (3-4 months ago?). Hunger kicked in and we began to trod down pearl street in the bitter cold to Bacaro, which wasn't serving food anymore by the time we got there. Somehow, we had lost Ken, and Doug had taken his place. It was then off to Old Chicago for some pizza (because I don't eat enough of it) where Ken found us, we all ate, then went our seperate ways.

Sunday started with breakfast from Moe's, then proceede to more playoff couch action (go Pats!), and finally a fam get togeth to watch the Golden Globes.

fluffy dust

Apple just launched the iPod Shuffle earlier in the week at MacWorld in San Francisco. It took a few days, but I like it better than the standard or the mini, at least for my potential purposes. Sure they only hold 1g, but being someone who thinks music should be played mainly from round formats (vinyl, cd), I view wav & mp3 files merely as tranfer mediums (dat qualifies as a trasfer and/or production master medium). I have a computer full of music folders/files, but I rarely listen to them until I fire them off to a cd. Sure, cd's take up more room, but there is something to be said for physically holding onto an album, EP, single, whatever. Basically, I couldn't fit all of my music onto one iPod anyway, and I would still wind up digging through the crates for something I want to hear that's not on the bugger. So, I was never terribly intersted. The Shuffle sparked some interest clocking in at 1g, and priced reasonably for a portable music player, which is what I would use it for, as opposed to a mass storage dump of all my music. It's itty bitty, and would be great for snowboarding or going to the gym. I still probably won't get one though, being as how I'm a card-carrying member of the boombox nation.

From the Let Sleeping Dogs Lie dept: Bob Marley's widow, Rita, plans to exhume his remains to be reburried in Ethiopa, his "spiritual resting place" in honor of his 60th birthday. This, of course, has led to outrage in Jamaica, where Bob is a national heritage icon of the grandest proportions.

And the friday techno of the day is: Sasha live @ Ghuangzhou Oriental Resort, China 18nov04

-weekend dreamin' neph-

further adjustment

A federal judge in ATL ruled that the "evoltion as a theory" stickers placed in Cobb county history textbooks, due to christian parents complaining about creation not being represented as an alternative, violated the seperation of church and state. Good for you, judge. Now, the religious right can take their stickers and put them in their bibles.

Ebay's jacking up their fees between 28-50%. How very monopolistic of them. These fees will undoubtedly just get passed on to the buyer.

The "opinion in journalism" debate continues. Here is a good article on reporters who maintain personal blogs and how it may create bias or conflict of interest. Opinions were like kittens, I was giving them away.

-nephew-

trust

such a wednesday

Fellow blogger, Joe Gordon, was recently fired (!) for keeping a weblog at work, essentially for satirizing his "sandal-clad" boss. Now, many british bloggers have vowed to boycott the bookstore he used to work at - oh, the scandal.

It looks like Cabbie missed a court date in his federal tax trial because he had checked himself into a psycho ward last week. His strange delusional desperation was really quite humorous. Apparently he had stopped returning phone messages to the feds over the past month, except for a bizarre personal voicemail message for an IRS agent on his case. I would so love to hear that message.

On my winamp today:

black heart procession - 1
david bowie - Hunky Dory
the faint - Media
grandaddy - Below the Radio mix
the shins - Nature Bears a Vacuum EP
stereolab - Margerine Eclipse

-nephew-

shot put

I went to the grocers last night and was amazed that they had simply run out of a good portion of their stock, like no provalone & no lettuce for instance. The shelves were just bare. It was then that I realized the students were back. That, and my parking lot is full again.

I just got back from Third Street Chai, where they were doing a photoshoot for the Camera. While sitting around waiting for the photographer, I kind of felt like Jack Bauer at CTU.

Blond Redhead is opening for Interpol, and that makes it more appealing.

My new discovery, that is actually a few years old, is Mark Kozelek's album "If You Want Blood", where he covers a bunch of Bon Scott era AC/DC songs. The way he re-works them to sound so bittersweet and sincere is great.

For no reason at all, save for the spirit of High Fidelity and the fact that lists are fun, here's a top 5 list of my favorite guitarists who can just plain wail when neccessary:

1. Trey Anastasio
2. Doug Martsch
3. J Mascis
4. Gene Ween
5. Billy Corgan (pre mellon collie)

-nephew-

back bowl

A 5 o'clock rise & shine, some Poets of Rhythm (thank you alan), some Loftus (essentially an sts9 cover band), and a few grippy mcgriddles later, myself, derrick & dylan made first run at Copper. We rode nonstop until noonish, then to the Blue Moose to ease our hunger. The conditions were great and the mountain wasn't crowded at all - lots of freshies in the less traveled areas. The graduates of the Handsome Boy Modeling school and some road sodies brought us back to boulder in the early afternoon with the rest of a beautiful day ahead of us.

The evening found us (me, jacq, dyl) at Styr for $1 martini hour to sync up with the philosophs (april, audra, michelle, nathan, peter, rich, theresa), christie, and a surprise visit from donna, who has moved back from england. After an hour, like clockwork, we followed the mass exodus to hunt for cheaper drinks and wound up at the Scumdowner, where we bumped into simmons, jamie & friends. I never did get to hear my jukebox selections.

-nephed-

dragon

AWOL - Alcohol WithOut Liquid is the hot new east coast trend. Each dose comes in some sort of inhaler-type device that is then hooked into a 1-4 person apparatus at the bar, where it's breathed in through the mouth. Kind of reminds me of that line from The Basketball Diaries, "If you're gonna pop it, might as well mainline." Riiiiiight. Where do we begin to discuss everything that's incorrect about AWOL?

This year's batch of shows are rolling out. Some potential highlights:

1/31 - Luna @ the Fox (rolling tape)
2/5 - STS9 {ersterersnern} @ the fillmore (rolling tape)
2/9 - Interpol @ the fillmore (on the fence)
3/5 - modest mouse @ the fillmore (only if they change up their setlist)
4/16 & 17 - U2 @ pepsi can (tentative dates)

My sandy was sub-par today due to lack of lettuce. Crap, friday afternoons sure can drag. I'm listening to Howard Stern, and it's actually kind of funny - Cabbie is having a delusional paranoid breakdown.

-until monday, nephew-

mOlar

My lousy trip to the dentist earlier this morning was outshined by finding an advance copy of the new Wedding Present album. LasoOOrs are either a curse, a blessing, or a farse. I'm just not sure which yet.

We may be getting an embosser at work. ErmboOOOOOserrr - such a great word. Which reminds me of something Comic Book Guy once said, "There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling right now."

-neph-

toast

orange & white out

I'm rather loving the snow we're experiencing right now. Sure the roads are a little hairy, but let us ponder for a moment just how nice it is accumulating up on the slopes where I hope to find myself on saturday.

Watched the Orange Bowl with derrick & dylan last night. USC pretty much creamed OU (yea!). During the half-time show we witnessed yet another Ashlee Simpson talent malfunction. The icing on the cake was 77,000 football fans boo-ing her when it was finally over. Just curious as to what trend monger decided that a huge anarchy symbol on the over-sized fake drum kit would be cool? I cannot wait until the wheels of the corporate entertainment juggernaut come to a screeching halt one day and no one stops by the side of the road to offer them any assistance. Anarchy indeed.

I just won a pair of Reverend Horton Heat tickets off the radio, but, being the humanitarian that I am, I forefeited them to someone who actually wants to go.

The product names of the week award definitely goes to Ikea for their children's desk and their more standard desk.

-well it was a wednesday, neph-

appropriately propped

The brothers chaps gave me props, in the form of a p.s., in the latest Strong Bad email:



Until the robbler sends me some of the photos from the weekend, this will have to satiate your desire for visual stimulus.

As expected, and appropriately corrected, I did leave a few albums off my *best of 2004* list:

.: bjork - Medulla (although it's a solid effort, I would likely find myself reaching for her previous endeavors when the mood struck)
.: iron & wine - Our Endless Numbered Days (just spaced this one completely, honest)
.: savath & savalas - Apropra'T (another earlier in the year release I forgot)
.: her space holiday - Young Machines Remixed (just found out that marc b. had his classic from last year re-worked)
.: luna - Rendevouz (it's growing on me, although this could possibly be masked sentimentality due to it being their swan song and all)

Yesterday's day off leaves me exalting my accolades of Wes Anderson and his merry Life Aquatic w/ Steve Zissou. Go see this. I'll go see it again with you. Seu George has taken Bowie to another level. Even Bud Cort, whom you may remember from Harold & Maude, makes an appearance as the bank bond stooge. I could go on, but I won't so that this doesn't become a spoiler piece.

As far as new year resolutions go, I have decided upon two:
1. Spend more time with martin. I have neglected the poor fellow over the past year.
2. Read more, preferably in book form. I welcome your suggestions.

-encouraging the new history, nephew-

cheers, beers & cracked knucks

The gang (alan, ashley, brooke, carolyn, marc, robert, & sara) quite thoroughly indulged in new year's jive as if it was a pancake breakfast. Giraffe fell in love with a squirrell. As Sara waxed poetic, we all wondered where in the world did the man in the orange & purple liquore store, who ever so effortlessly & elegantly guided us towards the Belvedere gift pack, come from. Who knew that a black crat crossing our on the wrong side of the tracks would bring us such luck...

From our corespondent, ALAN : "OUr such luck, we realize, that our only lifeline t0 the realworld would be the end of the reason that I send to you all of the space in our lives we tend t0 trace our world, yet we all come unfurled, in the small amount of time, we've ended up not being able to afford the time, that we all can so easily forfeit and give to"

Dear Diary, (by the way my name is sara, mentioned above.)
Currently, wondering what was mentioned above. A bit bewildered, as I am sure you are, too. Anyways, wanted to express my love and admiration for Lil Bill, a wonderful, family oriented,great cartoon. I think everyone should watch it. In short, Bill Cosby created it (I think) or else I like to believe that this is true. He is a great role model. If I ever have a family, I want it to be like the COsby family. I like how they have family dinners, and I think it is cute that daddy bill likes hogies so much. I wish they would adopt me. I am 25, can they adopt me? Is that legal, I am an adult, I guess? HELP, SOS

-and all the rest, neph-

so this is the new year

Happy 2005 to all my loyal subscribers! Thank you for your undying and never ending support. Muscle Beach would not exist if it weren't for you! OK, enough with the sentimentalities.,.,.,.,I'm sure you're dying to hear of my nye revelries.

Got out of work at 1p and was overwhelmed with whiling away the hours until midnight. A cocktail or 2 and my underused cellphone made some calls to my good pals (including the legendary Jay Starr) until it was time to travel east to Denver.It was there I met up with Joaquin and headed to the Nuggets game thathe was fortunate enough to have scored free tickets (17 rows back from courtside!) for. Pre-game, we synched up with Pat and his new lady, Stacy, at Brooklyn's. Not being a big NBA fan, I'll have to say it was quite an enjoyable time. Post game, we enjoyed drinks with our new friend Rance & his Nuggets cheerleader girlfriend, Kelly(?) at the Blue Sky Lodge. From there we meandered around LoDo until we fetched a cab to Karrey & Stephanie's bash, which turned out to be quite the dud. Luckily for us, Stephanie realized her party sucked and was kind enough to drive us to Brooke & Sarah's house where festivities were in full effect. Joaquin felt the impending pressure of work the next morning and dipped out with Tam while the rest of us (Alan, Ashley, Brooke, Carolyn, myself, Sara, Robert, and my arch nemesis, Eric) all walked to a park, whilst sounding off, where we rang in the new year (f-in 2005!) with champagne & fireworks over the city. From there we heade to the Atomic, which we thoroughly closed out. And from there it was back to Brooke & Sarah's abode where we put out an APB for our lost friend Alan and revelled to the wee hours with a few other folks whose names escape me.

The early morning crew consisted of myslef and a moderately befuddled Alan. Took it upon myself to make coffe and oatmeal for the sleepy crew, which was well received, but found myself outdone when Ashley magically brought out the sausage pizza. After everyone came to, it was off to Robert's for the UGA/Wisconsin game, Bloody Mary's, black-eyed peas (with the hambone, of course), and sausage rolls. And here I sit, live & direct.

-the neph year-